Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) Receives $109.33 Average PT from Analysts

Shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Reduce” from the seventeen brokerages that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $109.33.

A number of research analysts have recently commented on CE shares. UBS Group downgraded shares of Celanese from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $161.00 to $97.00 in a research report on Monday, November 11th. KeyCorp cut Celanese from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Mizuho dropped their price objective on Celanese from $120.00 to $86.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on Celanese from $102.00 to $82.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut Celanese from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $138.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Monday, November 11th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Celanese

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. First Hawaiian Bank lifted its position in Celanese by 116.0% during the fourth quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 15,400 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,066,000 after purchasing an additional 8,269 shares during the period. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division lifted its holdings in shares of Celanese by 102.2% during the 4th quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division now owns 4,550 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $315,000 after acquiring an additional 2,300 shares during the period. Everence Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Celanese during the 4th quarter worth approximately $209,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Celanese by 148.8% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,724 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $327,000 after acquiring an additional 2,825 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Celanese by 11.8% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 128,201 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $17,430,000 after purchasing an additional 13,503 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Celanese Stock Performance

CE opened at $65.00 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $73.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $111.27. Celanese has a 52-week low of $64.05 and a 52-week high of $172.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 1.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.11 billion, a PE ratio of 6.54, a PEG ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 1.18.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The basic materials company reported $2.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.85 by ($0.41). Celanese had a return on equity of 13.17% and a net margin of 10.40%. The company had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.70 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.50 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Celanese will post 8.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 30th were issued a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 30th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.17%.

Celanese Company Profile

Celanese Corporation, a chemical and specialty materials company, manufactures and sells high performance engineered polymers in the United States and internationally. It operates through Engineered Materials and Acetyl Chain. The Engineered Materials segment develops, produces, and supplies specialty polymers for automotive and medical applications, as well as for use in industrial products and consumer electronics.